Tazeen Akhtar
Federal Ministers in a meeting have expressed thier deep dissatisfaction on performance and relevant knowledge of federal secretaries and officers. Two important stalwarts of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif , Minister Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal and Minister Climate Change raised their hands showing the incompetence and bad output of the secretaries and officers.
Both ministers shared these remarks in a meeting on civil service reforms chaired by Ahsan Iqbal and Musaddaq Malik in attendance. Secretary Planning Owais Manzoor Samra, Secretaries of Finance, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Communications, Cabinet Division and other senior officials were also present to listen the remarks with their own ears.
The meeting reviewed the progress on previous directives on civil service reforms but found no proper development that was quite disturbing for the ministers who have been entrusted this task by the Prime Minister to accomplish as soon as possible.
Ahsan Iqbal , not impressed by speaking English from the officers, reacted , “We have made ourselves slave of English. No country in the world developed because of English . We have pushed 90 percent of Pakistanis backward on the basis of English. We have to get out of class thinking and provide equal opportunities. 90 percent of talent is being wasted just because of not knowing English.”
Federal Minister Climate Change Musaddaq Malik said, “There is no officer with an environmental background in the Ministry of Environment. How will the Ministry function when there is no knowledge?
He added, “The Ministry of Climate Change does not have a cadre of young officers with expertise in the relevant field. We have to move towards real skills and content, not just language.”
Minister Musaddaq was agreed with Ahsan Iqbal on to move away from conventional thinking and promote professional skills. He said, No country can function without skills.
He mentioned, “This is my fifth ministry, but I have not seen any work plan or outcomes anywhere. No secretary has an annual work plan, and without it, it is not possible to check the inputs and outcomes.”
” If the aim of reforms is not to improve performance, then these reforms are meaningless. There is talk of civil service reforms but no mention of results, Musaddaq added.
